So, eh, what exactly is an Ezine? In short, an Ezine is an electronic newsletter or magazine and a great way to spread your message. Many of you probably already get these from a variety of sources. These days, ezines have almost replaced magazines with topics ranging from how to publish your book, to building an effective website or decorating your home. There are ezines for everything and just about every topic. So, why would you start one? Well, in today’s busy business climate, people are inundated with messages and advertisements all the time. On average we’re exposed to over one thousand ads each day. So, if ads are becoming diluted what’s the alternative? An email newsletter, sent once or twice a month with information, tips, and helpful advice. Thereby staying on your reader’s radar screen and keeping your message in front of them, week after week, month after month.

So, let’s say you decided to start an email newsletter… what on earth would you write about? Well, if your book is nonfiction the topic should be fairly simple. Write about your area of expertise. You can pull chapters from your book to use as articles in the newsletter and offer current, relevant hints to your readers. A newsletter doesn’t have to be long, in fact, given the amount of reading most of us already do on-line we suggest keeping it short and simple. Five to seven pages should be your target, you can even go less if you want. It’s entirely up to you, you’re the boss and you decide what works and what doesn’t for your readership. If your book is fiction, then your newsletter might excerpt chapters for your upcoming not-yet-released blockbuster novel, and updated listing of where your readers can find you doing a signing or a talk and possibly, even some writing tips for those readers who aspire to finish their own novel someday.

There are a number of ways you can get subscribers. If you’re doing an event, talk, or book signing, bring a sign up sheet with you so people can subscribe to your ezine. Friends and family are always great supporters and might even pass an issue or two along to someone they know might be interested in your product, topic, or service. And finally, if you have a web site make sure you have a place for people to sign up if they want to subscribe to your ezine.

If you’re email list is small, you can sent your ezine by hand through your own email program but as your list expands, consider getting a service like Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com), Graphic Mail (www.graphicmail.com), or Kickstart Cart (www.kickstartcart.com). For a nominal monthly fee, these services will help you manage your ever increasing list of newsletter subscribers and send out your newsletter on the date and time you specify.

Once you’ve established your newsletter and run through a few issues, you might want to think about expanding your audience reach by posting your newsletter at various ezine directory sites. You can submit your ezine to the directories listed below. Read the submission instructions at each site first before you start the submission process.

Directories:
· E-ZineZ - A searchable ezine Directory – www.e-zinez.com
· EzineSeek - Categorized and searchable directory of ezines – www.ezineseek.com
· eZINESearch - www.ezinesearch.com
· Tile Net - TILE.NET is a project of Lyris Technologies, Inc.- http://tile.net/lists/
· Get Published - www.published.com/add/
· New List is a series of mailing lists that provide more than 6,000 subscribers updates on new ezines. You can even add your own newsletter to the list www.new-list.com/instructions/

Email newsletters are a great to keep your message active and stay in contact with your audience, customers, or future readers. Done correctly, word about an ezine will spread like wildfire. Offer an incentive to your readers if they pass one your newsletter or offer them the opportunity to run an ad in your newsletter announcing the release of their book. Enroll and engage your readers in your message, get them actively involved in your newsletter by allowing others to contribute articles or other forms of content. Build a loyal reader base and you’ll find not only valued customers, but messengers willing to spread the word about you and your book!

More Great Stuff for Your Newsletter!

Ezine-tips offers daily tips, reviews, and resources for email newsletter publishers. Visit them at www.ezine-tips.com
Ezine Marketing Center offers hundreds of free articles on publishing better ezines www.jvmarketer.com/ezine/index.html
If you're looking for content for your newsletter, head on over to Ezine-Swap Newsletter http://www.ezine-swap.com/

If you’re looking for an easy to use ezine template to get you started, send us an email at emailnewsletter@getresponse.com and we’ll get one right out to you!

And speaking of great newsletters… may we shamelessly recommend ours? You can get your free copy of Get Published Today in your email box every two weeks by sending an email to: subscribe@booksbypen.com

About the author:
Penny C. Sansevieri The Cliffhanger was published in June of 2000. After a strategic marketing campaign it quickly climbed the ranks at Amazon.com to the ##1 best selling book in San Diego. Her most recent book: No More Rejections. Get Published Today! was released in July of 2003 to rave reviews. Penny is a book marketing and media relations specialist. She also coaches authors on projects, manuscripts and marketing plans and instructs a variety of coursing on publishing and promotion. To learn more about her books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at www.amarketingexpert.comTo subscribe to her free ezine, send a blank email to: mailto:subscribe@booksbypen.com Copyright ă 2004 Penny C. Sansevieri